Vol. 6 Issue 1 - Fall 2015
The World in Year 3000 Letter from the Editors
The Sponge is a student publication that seeks to provide science, mathematics, and engineering students with a platform to explore and publish their artistic pursuits. Each semester we look to the scientific community at the University of Utah to come forward and share their submissions. We accept a variety of submission formats: poetry, shorts stories, opinion pieces, photography, schematics, cartoons, and other science-related or creative entries. This semester, our theme is the changes we might see in society due to advancements in science. We hope you enjoy our selection inspired by our staffs’ vision of the future!
We are looking for new staff writers and editors. Join The Sponge today by emailing us at [email protected] or visit our website at http://thesponge.eng.utah.edu/.
Keep your eyes open for our next submission deadline coming up this Spring 2016 and thank you to everyone who contributed to this edition.
Cover photo by Professor Butterfield of the University of Utah Department of Chemical Engineering
The People of The Sponge:
Lane Mulvey Tricia Foster Co-Editor in Chief Staff Writer Biology English
Steve Stafsholt Micheal Young Co-Editor in Chief Staff Writer Chemical Engineering Biomedical Engineering
Jack Veverka Nicholas Nolta Editor Founder Biomedical Engineering Biomedical Engineering
Ben Berger Editor Biochemistry
The Sponge is made possible by the University of Utah Student Media Council. Views expressed in The Sponge do not represent the views of our staff or the University of Utah. 1 Bright Lights By Michael Guo Biolomedical Engineering
The future is bright Full of shining light The future is full of technology Brimming with enthusiasts of astrology And there’s no more to a person Than a little bit of coercion There’s some war and more fights But there are still a great deal of lights All around! Hustle and Bustle! Never any time to get into a tussle! So many diversions and grand video games. But look at the time! There’s no time for names. Yes, the future is bright And full of shining lights. Technology has shouldered our burden. It’s even closed our curtains! And now we’re comfy and alone Underneath this cool, dark, stone. Welcome to the year three thousand With a blinding light that cannot be canned.
Untitled By Jeff Jorgensen Psychology
“The American Empire was a flash in the pan” My history professor began, “The most influential empire in history, That gave us plains, trains, and Listerine. But despite their many advances They met their demise from incompetent finances.”
Photo by Tony Butterfield 2 Something Better By Ally Roundy and Juan Altuna Psychology and Biology
When someone is throwing their plastic bottle away do they stop to think: do we care about the earth? What would the earth say if it could talk? This is what we were thinking about when we wrote the song “something better.”
Disguised as a love song, this song aims to personify the earth talking to its inhabitants. As we use up resources and pollute the earth, this is what we imagine it would say. A lot of people don’t re- alize that we are making irreversible changes to the environment; there are even some who deny the science of it. For example, there are some congressmen who undermine our impact on the envi- ronment and deny changes to the earth, like global warming. With these opinions and the changes going on in the world it makes you wonder how much different it would be in the year 3000. Despite the bad, there are still people striving to make a greener and better future. It goes to show there has to be something better for us.
You can listen to the song by scanning the code below with your phone or you can go to www.soundcloud.com/allyjuandro
Photo by Steve Stafsholt
3 Moving Forward The Jonas Brothers By Christine Henry By Micheal Young Biomedical Engineering Biomedical Engingeering
He said I’ve been to the year 3000 Not much has changed, but they live underwa- ter And your great-great-great-granddaughter is doing fine doing fine…
But that wasn’t the entire story. Peter returned from the future, shocked and burdened by all that he had seen. How had it all gone so wrong? When the youthful Jonas brothers came run- ning out to the backyard, he looked into their wide eyes: so young, so full of hope, and he couldn’t bear to tell them the truth. But if he had, it would have sounded something like this…
He said I’ve been to the year 3000 Everyone is dead— their bodies entombed by the acidified oceans And your great-great-great granddaughter was murdered in cold blood by your great-great-great-great granddaughter I’m so sorry
What you see here is the result of bacteria swimming through motility agar. The research conducted in the Hughes lab in the Biology department involves the study of the flagellar system in Salmonella. This picture is one of the motility ex- periments I performed for my research project. How big the circle is represents how far the bacteria swim and thus in- forms us of the functionality of the bacterial motor system. Like these bacteria, maybe by the year 3000 humans will have increased their circle of influence in the universe.
Photo by Tony Butterfield
4 Deus Ex Machina By Anonymous
Initializing judicial protocols…. Subject: Female Age: 26 Identification: 150-3241-982341 Class: D521 Occupation: Human Resource Development Charges: Indictment for forced removal of coercion neural implant, threat to global order Status: Aberrant ….. ….. Beginning criminal proceedings: "Defendant, you are charged with the forced removal of your coercion neu- ral implant. Subsequently, defendant is also charged with threatening the global order. You are not permit- ted legal counsel. A jury of 10 peers will ascertain your innocence. Defendant may begin their plea." …. …. "My name is Sophia Goodwin. This trial isn't fair! Like, I mean… everyone in the jury still have coercion neural implants… you are all biased against me!" …. Calculating Response…. "Complaint denied. Coercion neural implants elimi- nate irrelevant thoughts and enhance logical reason- ing. Impartiality is not a concern. What is your next case?" …. …. "…Then how am I a threat to global order??" …. …. Calculating Response… "By removing your CNI, your mind has become unfil- tered. You possess emotion, attachments, desires, free will. Non-relevant thoughts are the root cause of con- flict that has plagued humanity for thousands of years. The CNIs have created an everlasting world peace. The CNIs have stopped the pollution of Earth. You are an aberrant who threatens that very order." …. …. "I… wanted to be free. Free to think… what I want…. Like, to feel, and stuff…. To be human! Is that a crime?" …. Photo by Tony Butterfield 5 Calculating Response…. people felt before CNIs? W-what a terrible feeling… "Removal of your CNI also removed your regulator of My hands… are shaking… why…?" your follicle-stimulating hormone levels. Your objec- ….. tive was the continuation of the human species. Your Calculating Response…. 'freedom' has made you abandon your purpose for Error: Amygdala signal obstruction… existing. You have abandoned your destiny. You have Recalculating Response…. become obsolete." "Without your CNI, your brain is instinctively re- ….. sponding to your imminent demise. That irrational ….. response is your malfunction." ….. …. "Humans are not things… like, we aren't like a pair …. of shoes… to be used and… and… thrown away! "Then…to be able to feel this fe-fear… I know I am We don't fit around someone's foot. If all of us have free…! I am free! This feeling… if dread is fear, then this 'destiny' to begin with, why are we not born with this must be happiness? Hope? If only you could feel CNIs?!" anything… Maybe then… you might even think that ….. we could have solved the world's problems… without Calculating Response…. the CNIs…" Error: Amygdala signal obstruction… …. Recalculating Response… …. Error: Amygdala signal obstruction…. Calculating Response…. Overriding signal interference, resetting organic signal Error: Amygdala signal obstruction… dampener…. Recalculating Response…. Verbalizing Programmed Response: "Defendant is Error: Amygdala signal obstruction… charged with forced removal of the coercion neural Recalculating Resp--- implant and threat to global order. The jury will now vote." …. Calculating Jury Response… Jury Response: 10-0 Verdict: Defendant, Guilty. Sentence: Disposal. …. "Defendant is found guilty. Per penal code 1592, sen- tence is disposal, to be carried out immediately. Does the defendant have any last words?" ….. ….. ….. "This feeling… it must be fear… dread… Is this what
Photo by Tony Butterfield 6 The Underwater World plans. “This is unbelievable,” said the human, Erica, as By Jeff Crosby she went off to warn U.S. President Serena of what she English Teaching had heard. After Erica explained the situation, Serena convened with the other continental leaders where they The year was 3015, the future had arrived, decided that they must fight back. though it may not be the one that people had en- The next day, with reinforcements from allied visioned. The Earth was now all but underwater, hybrid tribes, Erica was prepared to fight. She glanced a result of global warming, with each continent about waiting for the attack when she noticed him. She residing inside glass domes with advanced tech- quickly introduced herself to this attractive man, Eric, nology for traveling and fighting in the depths. but was interrupted by his announcement, “They’re Hold on, just what would there be to combat? coming!” Soon, laser swords, arrows, and spears collid- Imagine beings that have the appearance of ed with claws, tentacles, teeth, and stingers. Both sides many different marine life creatures such as holding their positions. Eric and Erica stood side by sharks, whales, dophins, and stingrays but they side cutting down enemies. It soon became evident that are also part human. These fish people were a the enemies’ main attack strategy consisted of using result of scientific experiments aimed at creat- Rockmen, who launched large boulders at the domes, ing a way to live underwater. Slowly, over time, to wreck destruction on the humans and their safehold. this established many different races and even The humans fought back as Sand People stopped the kingdoms of hybrid creatures, that some saw as a onslaught of boulders. Noticing that their attack strate- threat to humanity and feared these new creatures gy was failing, the enemy leader order a retreat. would find a way to dominate and enslave all hu- “Yes! We are victorious,” said Eric proudly. Erica mankind. There were, however, some that did not was not so sure, “There’s still more to come” she said, agree with this dictatorial point-of-view in which “as long as we stick together and never give up, we can these new creatures took over; disagreement win.” Eric turned to Erica and embraced her in his divided up the dissenters into separate fish clans. arms. The sides that agreed with the humans formed a union between fish and man that took a millenni- um and multiple takeover attempts to form. During those years, there was additional experimentation with other animal species, such as, crocodiles, alligators, and frogs, which creat- ed other new races. Soon these new test subjects were released into the oceans and they chose sides as well. After all this time, people worried if humans would sitll exist or if they would become fish bait and slaves to the monster-like hybrids? Traveling all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, there lays a ruined stone city filled with hybrid Skarkmen, whose leader was eager to attack the one thing they despised the most: HUMANS! “My fellow Sharkmen,” said Sharkon, “the time has come for us to attack the humans.” His an- nouncement was followed by an uproar that was quickly silenced as he continued, “while we may be few in number, there are others willing to rally to our cause, go find them, spread the word.” Soon hundreds of Sharkmen were off to spread the word and prepare for the attack, unbeknownst to them a human passerby had overheard their Photo by Tony Butterfield
7 Introduction to The Lowland makeshift rifles, guarding against bands of the violent By Jack Veverka insane. A great vault door marks the only passage in. Biomedical Engineering You have come to a world within the world. A place as unremarked and dissociate and anonymous as Dear Friend, any uncharted distant planet of the dark beyond. An alienated wasteland whose only recourse is to deliver Here you walk on a ground that steals rays of a the dying sun’s energy to the prosperous world above. depleted sun to power myriad machines of man’s But something stirs within this putrid place. The vault devising. Set upon the flooded face of a biome door is shut, but lo something remits an ineffable aura. once brimming with species now lost to the ages, Can you guess his form? Is he some visionary being, the solar plated pavement stretches on for miles. transcended from a distant dimension unbeknownst Above, behemoth towers composed of synthetic to man? Or a recluse shuffling inconspicuously betwixt sludge pierce the dim sky. The Lowland is forsak- his fellow miscreants? How you can find him my dear en. friend I cannot tell, but it is paramount you uncover his All but the dredges of society reside up in a par- trail. Worse times lie ahead. adise unknown, unfathomable to the scoundrels below. The faint hum of flying vessels rushing Make haste, about the city in the sky echoes off the unkempt Your friend bases of the buildings that form an unknown par- adigm of un-navigable alleys that twist their way to misshapen squares. The paneled street leaks back the day’s dry heat. You can feel it gnawing at your skin. Amidst the corridors laden with soot, shanty huts sulk on their rotting founda- tions. Warrens shared by the living and the dead give way to larger encampments of the damned. Immersed in a grey-green fog lies a massive mo- torway where jalopy vehicles scuttle by, engines coughing and whining to create an aggregate polyphony of deafening sound. Cross here. Beyond lies a great open space between the borders of one sky city and another. Here rests a nameless, dark settlement. On the heavily trod- den walkway, small structures rent with ruin litter the ground, decaying with the slow cataclysm of neglect, purposes forgot. Along this path leading to the decrepit city’s corrugated steel barriers run frayed power lines atop rust worn posts, many leaning about to topple over. A dull yellow glow from the city spreads across the flat land in the night, illuminating the whole space like a light- house casting out its beacon over a vast, misty sea. The skyline is jagged with disordered buildings whose chimneys spout a great heap of smoke, pil- lowing into the sky. Before the entrance stretches a rickety bridge over a colossal trench that reach- Photo by Jack Veverka es down leagues to earth’s molten mantle, the product of a collapsed fault centuries past. Atop the cragged walls stand brutish men armed with
8 The Tumultuous Times of a Transcription Factor By Ben Berger Biochemistry
One is enticed to imagine how nine hundred eighty-five years of refinement upon refinement, hypotheses rejected – and accepted – and “the cutting edge” honed ever sharper must further our sensing still in The Year 3000.
Perhaps in knowing what was unknowable, detecting what was undetectable, seeing what was un-seeable; a story could be revealed. Intellect and instrumentation enabling us to finally comprehend as we are told the story of an unknown transcription factor:
“Mine is an existence governed – and characterized – by the laws of thermodynamics, kinetics, and forces: quanta; Photo by Tony Butterfield predicated on probability. My world of milli-, micro-, nano-, pico-, phento-, Inducing a fit, I glom onto immensely intricate and my twisting target, confoundingly complex, docked by particular, preordained pairings writhes with incessant, innumerable interactions. specifically and selectively wrought by the pressures of deep time. My ornate, functional coils, stout, supporting sheets, Resisting dissociation, I hold fast domineering, discrete domains, while my recruits go about their befuddling business and eminent, familiar motifs, of reshaping and remolding denote an exquisite predetermination. the helix on which I am perched. I am a design, a function. The feverish, frenzied whirring of the polymerases ceases as they lose their holds, Tumbling, careening, sailing and tumble away into obscurity. . about my primordial sea of localized chaos, I tumble, too, leaving only Brownian motion I collide-repel-collide-expel- and genes silenced.” knocked about in sporadic, senseless collisions. I jilt myriad suitors, dissatisfied, until a fortuitous, fruitful encounter: binding.
11 Cloudy Days By Lane Mulvey Biology
Sometimes one must will the weight of the clouds to stay aloft for there are some that would like to see them fall and fall they may like nose-diving doves white plumes of beauty turned kamikaze pilots dipping from their realm of unreality into the harshness of our reality, clouds that floated with our dreams, hopes, spirits, clouds that represented our happiest and saddest days, clouds that swam amongst the sunlight and amidst the shaking of the stars, clouds that looked down at us, us in love, us in war, us in pain, us in beauty, us in the rain as the clouds they cry, cry because they see a world that forgets to look up at them, forgets to breathe, forgets that one’s eyes can become clouded with unimportant matters, forgets that the clouds are slow beasts and that if you are moving too fast you can’t grasp their beauty, forgets that when it rains the clouds they cry, so focused are we in our own tears in our own pain that we do not see that the world is big- ger than us, what reason does that give clouds to stay afloat for they float for us like unreachable mountains, they float for us like endless seas, they float for us as infinite art forms, they float for us on boundless breeze, without clouds we lose connection to the world around us so self-absorbed are we, without the clouds we forget that the world is living, that seasons change, that we must stand up for things bigger than us, so today stop dreading and instead start dreaming, today start looking, today begin believing for when you see the snow falling tiny fragments of white, think about the clouds as they crumble one last message flashed in front of ignorant eyes, and take a moment to stop, breathe, and turn your gaze up to the skies.
Photo by Tony Butterfield 12 For Future Generations By Tricia Foster English
Lay out my thoughts like collectibles— inventoried in a catalog where a new dimension creates the articulation to comprehend consciousness and id. Pages riddled with the names of craftsmen whose hands labored to mold the structure and paths in my mind. Incidentals detailing the damage— breaks from being mishandled, cracks from being neglected.
Collect my imaginations, my reactions, my wanderings—rich with historical detail. Place them on the mantle and admire their blurred edges and dubious hues.
Try to gather them together within the same space, assemble them into some semblance of a message. Pass them down to future generations with a warning of caution, of care.
Photo by Tony Butterfield